The summit of foreign ministers from the BRICS economic bloc on Thursday was derailed by simmering animosity between Iran and several of the other attendees, especially the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which has been obliged to defend itself against repeated unprovoked missile and drone attacks from Tehran over the past two months.
BRICS is named after the original five members: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (which joined a bit later than the others and added the “S” to the name.) The bloc voted to expand in 2023 and added Egypt, Iran, the UAE, and Ethiopia. Argentina was invited to join, but declined, while Saudi Arabia never responded to the invitation. Indonesia joined sometime later.
BRICS began as little more than a discussion group but, as China asserted more global economic power and took control of the collective, it became a more serious effort to create an anti-American, anti-Western collective that might someday rival the likes of the Group of Seven (G7).
India hosted this week’s meeting of BRICS foreign ministers in New Delhi and was dismayed to see the conference dissolve into animosity between Iran and the fellow members it has been wantonly attacking.
On Thursday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi – who has been spending much of his time lately threatening the other BRICS members with terrorist attacks unless they pay extortion fees to Iran for using the Strait of Hormuz – erupted at the UAE delegation, led by Minister of State Khalifa Shaheen al-Marar.
Araghchi was fuming over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office claiming on Wednesday that he secretly visited the UAE during the war between Israel, Iran, and the United States. Netanyahu’s office said he met with Emirati President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan (MBZ) and achieved a “historic breakthrough in relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.”
Israel reportedly deployed its Iron Dome defense system to protect the UAE against Iranian attacks, with support from Israeli technicians. Emirati officials expressed gratitude for Israel’s assistance.
The UAE denied the claim of Netanyahu’s secret meeting with MBZ, insisting that all of its relations with Israel are “public” and “not based on non-transparent or unofficial arrangements.”
Araghchi responded on Wednesday with a thuggish social media post that obliquely threatened the UAE with more terrorist attacks unless it broke off its relations with Israel and the United States.
“Netanyahu has now publicly revealed what Iran’s security services long ago conveyed to our leadership,” he sneered.
“Enmity with the Great People of Iran is a foolish gamble. Collusion with Israel in doing so: unforgivable. Those colluding with Israel to sow division will be held to account,” he threatened.
In his subsequent meltdown at the BRICS summit on Thursday, Araghchi insisted he had tried to be polite and diplomatic by not naming the UAE in his menacing social media post, but his patience with the Emiratis had been exhausted.
“I didn’t name the UAE in my statement for the sake of unity. But the truth is that the UAE was directly involved in the aggression against my country. When the attacks started, they didn’t even issue a condemnation,” the Iranian foreign minister claimed.
Aragchi falsely claimed that all of Iran’s many attacks against the UAE were directed solely at American military positions, and then threatened the Emiratis again, warning that it was folly for them to believe the United States could protect them.
“We must live side by side in peace, and this requires peaceful relations and complete understanding between the two countries,” he concluded.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi was even more belligerent, accusing the UAE of conspiring with Israel and the U.S. to attack Iran, and insisting the UAE “must accept responsibility for your actions.”
“The United Arab Emirates played a significant role in supporting and facilitating the military aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Therefore, a party that itself contributed to the creation and escalation of tensions lacks any legitimacy to level political accusations and claims against Iran,” Gharibabadi said at the BRICS summit.
“The UAE is an aggressor, not merely an accomplice to aggression,” he said. “We had no option but to target all facilities of U.S. bases in the UAE, or any facilities and installations in the UAE in which the United States had a role or participation.”
“Let me remind you that several days before the aggression began, as we possessed information regarding the possibility of attacks by the Israeli regime and the United States, we sent official messages to regional countries, including the United Arab Emirates,” Gharibabadi lectured the UAE delegation.
“We warned them that if they assisted the aggressors and made their territory and facilities available to them, Iran would have no choice but to exercise its legitimate right of self-defense by targeting those facilities in defense of its country,” he said.
The BRICS meeting concluded without issuing a joint statement, due to the rancor between members.